Father of Communication
Wilbur Schramm "The difficulty in summing up a field like human communication is that it has no land that is exactly its own. Communication is the fundamental social process." -Wilbur Schramm Father of Mass Communication The start of WWI really began the kickoff for the study of journalism and communication. Scholars such as Wilbur Schramm really paved the way for the go forward of communication and journalism programs at universities. Wilbur Schramm sought to make communication studies a legitimate academic field. As a matter of fact, Schramm played a huge role in shaping the field of communication to be what it is today. When the University of Iowa appointed Schramm as the Director of the School of Journalism, he was able to funnel his ideas and theories about the field of communications into the program. Schramm laid the mold for what the field of communication would turn out to be. This alone paved the way for important milestones in the history of the field of communications. Schramm in 1943 helped organize the first Ph.D. program in the world in mass communication at the University of Iowa. He later moved to Illinois to help start a PhD. program there as well. Schramm played a key role as a founder in the field of communication and helped launched what it is today. Early Life Wilbur Schramm was born in Marietta, Ohio on August 5, 1907. His ancestors immigrated from Schrammsburg, Germany, and his heritage and German sounding name would cause his family trouble when American entered World War 1. He developed a stutter around the age of 5 after a poorly performed tonsillectomy. During this time up until he graduated from Marietta College in 1928 he generally avoided speaking in public. His difficulty with stuttering in his early life eventually led him into the field of communication study. Iowa Writers Workshop In 1939, Schramm became the director of the Iowa Writers Workshop, picking up where Piper left off when he passed away. The workshop quickly picked up and recieved alot of attention for being of such prestige. By this point, the workshop became and official part of the course catalog at The University of Iowa.The course consisted of individual conferences where Schramm even opened his home to students to have one-on-one meetings with Schramm, and weekly seminars where content was presented. This workshop ended up being the prototype for the doctoral programs in communication. OFF/OWI The OFF was created in October 1941to boost public morale during WW II, it was reorganized as the OWI in J une of1942. Schramm would join the division of education and work with that group for 15 months. Schramm's ideas on communication studies was formed during his everyday meetings with other scholars working with these groups. Theories Wilbur Schramm developed a growth of a basic model of communication. The model he created in 1954 deals with the process of encoding and decoding messages. Schramm proposed his process model as a circle of communication between the sender and receiver. Major Events in the Career of Wilbur Schramm *'1907' Born in Marietta, Ohio *'1928' Bachelor's degree in history and political science from Marietta College *'1930' Master's degree in American Civilization fro Harvard University *'1932' Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Iowa *'1932-1934' American Council of Learned Societies postdoctoral fellow at the University of Iowa where he conducted experimental research with Dr. Carl E. Seashore *'1934-1941' Assistant professor, and professor of English, and founder and director of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, University of Iowa *'1942-1943' On leave from the University of Iowa to serve as educational director of the Office of Facts and Figures and the Office of War Information in Washington D.C. during World War II, where he formed his vision of communication study *'1943-1947' Director, School of Journalism, University of Iowa, and founder of the first doctoral program in mass communication *'1947-1955' Founder and director of the Institute of Communications Research, dean of the Division of Communication, and assistant to the President of the University of Illinois *'1955-1973' Professor of communication and director (1957-1973) of the Institute fro Communication Research, Stanford University *'1962-1973' Appointed the Janet M. Peck Professor of International Communication at Stanford University, until his mandatory retirement from Stanford at the age of sixty-five *'1973-1975' Director, East-West Communication Institute Hawaii *'1975-1977' Distinguished Center Researcher, East-West Communication Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii *'1977' Ah Boon Hau Professor of Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong *'1987' Dies in Honolulu REFERENCES ''An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research ''by Don W. Stacks & Michael B. Salwen (New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2010) A history of communication study: A biographical approach Rogers, E.M. (New York: Free Press, 1997)